Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion

by Koshin Paley Ellison

Overview

This accessible guide for walking Buddhism’s eightfold path is the perfect way to combat loneliness, disconnection, and depression–true happiness is not as unattainable as it may seem.

Loneliness is on the rise, with detrimental effects on our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. How do we look past the surface, to discover a life filled with meaningful connection and genuine relationships? Untangled is a welcoming guidebook to finding expansive ease and true joy through the eightfold path–one of Buddhism’s foundational teachings. 

Psychotherapist and Zen teacher Koshin Paley Ellison compassionately walks readers down these eight roads, leading them to discover true joy. Combining teachings from both Eastern and Western traditions, Paley Ellison equips readers with the tools needed to make profound change, inside and out. Infused with Paley Ellison’s own anecdotes of his own life, this guide will help you transform your relationships and offers a path for social healing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538708316
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	11/12/2024
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dr. Koshin Paley Ellison, MFA, LMSW, DMIN, has devoted his life to the study and application of psychotherapy and Buddhism in service of addressing cultural ills. An author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and certified chaplaincy educator, he and his husband Robert Chodo Campbell founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

Table of Contents

Part I Before Your Journey (Is There a Before?)

1 True Pleasure Is a Place of Practice 3

2 The Tangle 16

Part II Beginning to Go Beyond

3 You Are Not Just Your Body 27

4 You Are More Than Your Feelings 39

5 You Are Not Just Your Thoughts 58

6 Confronting the Giants and Their Wheels of Suffering 72

7 The Pivot: Finding Our Place of Practice 93

Part III The Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion

8 The Path Is a Place of Practice 105

9 Perspective Is a Place of Practice 120

10 Speech Is a Place of Practice 136

11 Action Is a Place of Practice 150

12 Work Is a Place of Practice 170

13 Effort Is a Place of Practice 181

14 Attention Is a Place of Practice 191

15 Seated Meditation Is a Place of Practice 207

16 Mystery Is a Place of Practice 226

Appendix 1 Resources 233

Appendix 2 Further Reflection for Untangling with the Four Noble Truths 235

Acknowledgments 239

About the Author 243

Editorial Reviews

"Buddhist monk Paley Ellison (Wholehearted) delivers an outstanding guide to the essentials of Buddhist practice."

"Paley Ellison’s candid anecdotes show the principles in action and his passion comes through on every page. Additionally, his theology manages to be accessible without oversimplifying. This walks the walk."—Publishers Weekly

“Koshin Paley Ellison engages us from a life of hard-earned wisdom, showing us a way out of our countless tangles to a path to freedom.”—Daniel Goleman, author, Emotional Intelligence

“Reading Untangled, I felt as if Koshin Paley Ellison was sitting right next to me: telling his stories, sharing his friendliness, offering his down to earth wisdom. This is an indispensable new guidebook to Buddhism’s eightfold path.”—Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of BITTERSWEET and QUIET

“Koshin is a visionary spiritual leader who brings together the medicine for fear—bridging the divide between our values and our actions. He gives us the soulful prescription and the companioning needed for integration of personal awareness, social healing and global connectedness.”—Van Jones, Founder of Dream Corps

“Leave it to a monk to write an unusually thoughtful book about how to stop being controlled by your emotions—and start learning to observe, embrace, and harness them.”—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THINK AGAIN and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we believe our own thoughts! Koshin Paley Ellison shares his wisdom and passion in Untangled. Written with truth, humor, sometimes revealing pain, always manifesting compassion, Untangled is a gem.” —Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Change

“Koshin is one of my most important teachers and friends. He’s also very funny and courageously candid about his own personal history and personality quirks. If you’re looking for somebody to teach you how to do life better, Koshin is an ace."—Dan Harris, author, 10% Happier

“With humor, compassion and the knowingness of decades of practice, Koshin Paley Ellison continues to be one of our wisest guides. Untangled is an honest, accessible, funny, loving, slapping-you-around-a-bit roadmap to help us face that which we want to turn from, and hold that which feels impossible…together.”—Priya Parker, author, The Art of Gathering

From the Publisher